Spotify buys AI startup Niland to develop its music personalization and recommendations

Spotify has made its fourth acquisition of the year after it announced that AI startup Niland has joined its ranks.

Paris-based Niland offered an API-based product focused on providing more accurate search and recommendation options for music. Spotify said the French company will join its R&D team which is based in New York to help hone its personalization and recommendation features for users.

“Niland has changed the game for how AI technology can optimize music search and recommendation capabilities and shares Spotify’s passion for surfacing the right content to the right user at the right time,” Spotify said in a statement.

“We will keep working on new ways to better understand music to craft better innovative listening and discovery experiences,” Niland’s founding team wrote on its website.

Spotify has made personalization a key part of its service with tailored playlists like Release Radar and Discovery Weekly. The latter reached 40 million users within its first year, highlighting the value of easy-to-use and intelligent discovery.